If I right click on a wave file,there is an option to" play this wave file" when I do that the file plays but there is no way to control it.There is no player that actually opens up.
How is the file playing?

I assume Explorer can play wavs. If you want controls, install or define another app to be the default.

Bruno

As Bruno said, you can associate another player with the filetype, such as WinAmp. That's done in WinAmp's options.

But if Explorer is the one playing the file, and if you are in windows XP, there is a control bar on the left pane of the explorer window I think. Somewhere.

It's possible you have that bar or that whole windowpane disabled on your system. Look around the explorer menus for an option to turn it back on again.

I use windows 2000
There is the control bar in the explorer window but that is not playing the file because while the file is playing with the "unknown" player I can play it with that control bar,

The weird thing is also that task manager shows no difference when the file plays this way but it does if i play it with winamp or mediaplayer

I bet it'll show up in Processes rather than Applications.

This sounds like one of those things integrated into Windows, just like Explorer. Just like when you're adjusting your sound profile in the Control Panel and are previewing sounds, it's Explorer (probably with some Windows Media Player built in) that is playing the sounds.

Are you just curious about this? If it's annoying, you put a check next to ".wav" for file type association in Winamp.

Should be able to press and hold the shift key down and right click on the file and select Open With... and choose your audio program through that window and just check that check box to always use that program.

Yes I'm just curious.
If I left click the wave files they open in winamp just fine,it's when I right click and select the option to play this wave file from the menu that i'm curious about.(see attachnent in 1st post)
It does not show up in processes.

You should be able to open the "File Types" menu and see what action that context-menu item is related to.

The only choices for wave are open and play.
The other choices aren't listed there but they are in the right click menu.
see attachment